A
final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (FPEIS) and the
final Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA), Louisiana - Ecosystem Restoration
Study, which identifies the most critical natural and human ecological
needs of coastal Louisiana and develops and recommends a near-term
program of cost-effective projects to address these needs, are now
available.

Wetland
loss in coastal Louisiana has reached catastrophic proportions, with current
losses of 25-35 square miles per year. Since the magnitude of the problem
was identified in the 1970s, we have gained much insight into the processes
that lead to wetland creation and destruction. The disappearance of Louisianas
wetlands threatens the enormous productivity of its coastal ecosystems,
the economic viability of its industries, and the safety of its residents.
The wetlands support various functions and values, including commercial
fisheries; harvesting of furbearers and alligators; recreational fishing
and hunting; ecotourism; critical migratory butterfly, songbird and waterfowl
habitat; endangered and threatened species habitat; water quality improvement;
navigation and waterborne commerce; flood control; buffering protection
from storms; and the perpetuation of a unique culture that has developed
in this beautiful and bountiful area of the country. (from Coast
2050: Toward a Sustainable Coastal Louisiana)

Coastal Louisiana
is important to the local and national economies through oil and gas production,
the number one port complex in the Nation, and international seafood and
recreation industries. The infrastructure that supports these activities
is interwoven with the unique ecosystem created by the Mississippi River
in south Louisiana. Additionally, major flood control and river control
civil works structures located in coastal Louisiana play an important
role in providing for its habitation. Without these measures in place,
it would be impossible for south Louisiana's stakeholders to facilitate
upper river basin development, agribusiness, water supply, flood control,
and navigation on the river and its tributaries. Increasing environmental
awareness has led many to recognize the relationships of local and national
development to losses being incurred by Louisiana's coastal wetlands and
barrier shorelines.

In 1998, the State
of Louisiana and its Federal partners approved a coastal restoration plan
entitled Coast 2050: Toward a Sustainable
Coastal Louisiana. That document presented strategies jointly developed
by Federal, State, and Local interests to address Louisiana's massive
coastal land loss problem. For the first time, solutions were proposed
to address fundamental ecosystem needs in order to prevent the loss of
this natural treasure. By implementing the plans regional ecosystem
strategies, it is envisioned that a sustainable ecosystem will be restored
in coastal Louisiana, in large part by utilizing the same natural forces
that initially built the landscape.

While the ultimate
goal for coastal restoration under the Coast 2050 plan is to implement
strategies throughout coastal Louisiana, the Barataria Basin is in dire
need of immediate attention. On February 18, 2000, the USACE and LADNR
signed a historic agreement to initiate
large-scale action to restore this basin. The Barataria Basin has a very
high rate of wetland loss, estimated at about 11 square miles per year
from 1978-1990 (Fuller et al. 1995). Nevertheless,
it has tremendous potential for restoration because of nearby sediment
resources in coastal bays, the Mississippi River, and in Federal and State
waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Most of the strategies
in the Barataria Basin are dependent on the overall input, movement, and
circulation of water, sediment, and nutrients in the basin, but some strategies
can be implemented largely independently of these considerations. These
include barrier shoreline restoration (Strategy
R2-22), marsh creation in the southwestern basin (Strategies
R2-16 and R2-17), and a delta-building diversion from the lower Mississippi
(Strategy R2-11). These strategies can be implemented as separable activities,
independent of other strategies in the Barataria Basin and coastal Louisiana.
This study will develop plans to submit to the United States Congress
requesting authorization and construction funding for ecosystem restoration
in the Barataria Basin under the Water Resources Development Act.